Hand trucks of the type mentioned have been well described in a number of prior patents such as the present assignee""s U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,997,182, 4,563,014, 4,790,547, and 5,393,081, for example, all of which I incorporate herein by reference. Such hand trucks are utilized for moving a variety of products such as stacked cases of soft drinks or beer to and from a delivery truck for transporting them from warehouses to retail establishments, for example. Typically, the hand trucks will be stored in the delivery vehicle during transport and then put into use when the various destinations are reached.
The present invention is concerned with a vertically folding hand truck comprising upper and lower sections which are hingedly connected to permit the upper section to be folded vertically down to a position of vertical adjacency with the lower section. This is accomplished in the present hand truck without the sacrifice of strength and rigidity when the hand truck is in use by employing an internal locking mechanism disposed within the frame side rails for securely locking the sections in vertically co-extensive position. Mechanism is also provided for pivotally mounting the nose plate for movement to a vertical position and securely and rigidly locking it in the horizontal position of use automatically when the nose plate is swung down from the stowed position.
One of the prime objects of the present invention is to provide a hand truck of the character described which has relatively few operating parts and can be manufactured and marketed economically.
Another object of the invention is to provide a lightweight foldable hand truck of very durable construction which requires virtually no maintenance and can be readily and easily locked in operative position.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a foldable hand truck having parts which can be readily unlocked to enable the truck to assume a compacted position for ready storage.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent with reference to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter.